Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Thursday that the state has joined Texas, Louisiana and Nebraska in a federal lawsuit challenging a new rule, effective today, that changes the definition of "spouse" in the Family and Medical Leave Act to recognize legally married same-sex couples regardless of where they live.
In a news release, Rutledge said, "The federal government should not, and in fact cannot, interfere with state sovereignty over domestic relations. Arkansas law is supreme in the realm of domestic relations and marriage, and only the courts can force states to change their marriage definitions. In Arkansas, the definition of marriage is between one man and one woman."
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, claims the U.S. Labor Department's new regulation is unconstitutional because it interferes with state laws governing marriage, and unlawfully attempts to legislate nationwide same-sex marriage via executive agency rule-making.
Rutledge said that late Thursday, the Texas court granted an injunction at the request of the states, "stopping this rule from moving forward."
The new rule was prompted by President Barack Obama's instructions to federal agencies to review federal statutes after the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision in United States v. Windsor, which struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional.
Before the rule change, only couples living in states where same-sex marriage is recognized could take advantage of the Family and Medical Leave Act benefits. The act entitles workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually to care for a spouse or family member for medical or family reasons without losing their jobs. It applies to private companies with 50 or more workers and all public agencies and schools.
The previous wording, which remains in effect under the injunction, "wasn't fair to employees. It meant they had different federal benefits based on their ZIP code," Robin Maril, senior legislative counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, said recently. The Human Rights Campaign is an advocacy group for homosexual, bisexual and transgendered people.
There are now 37 states plus the District of Columbia that permit same-sex marriages.
In Arkansas, a federal judge found that the state's bans against gay marriage are unconstitutional, but her ruling has been stayed pending a review of it and similar rulings in May by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
In a similar case in state court, a Pulaski County circuit judge also struck down the bans. His decision was stayed by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which is considering whether to hear a second round of oral arguments in the case.
Metro on 03/27/2015